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Brownfields, properties with actual or perceived contamination and active potential for reuse, have risen rapidly to the top of the national economic development policy agenda. Bringing together economic, environmental, and community interests, one sees vigorous public and private brownfields efforts in progress across the country. Based on the principle that one can assess, clean up, and sustainably reuse contaminated properties, the federal Brownfields Initiative empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to solve the brownfields challenge. This article provides public works officials with the information they need about the Brownfields National Partnership Action Agenda and the multiagency federal activities underway to support local brownfields projects. Any opinions expressed in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

This book focuses on the problems facing the public and private sectors and the engineering and scientific communities in terms of the decrease of available new land for development purposes. Given the economic and social benefits of brownfields redevelopment, there is a need for guidance on processes that ensure the acceptability and therefore viability of such redevelopment. The preparation of the guidance requires further research as well as the sharing of information, lessons and experience among experts in this field.Featuring papers from the Third International Conference on Prevention, Assessment, Rehabilitation and Development of Brownfield Sites, the text will be vital to practitioners and businessmen in industry and commerce as well as those in research organisations interested in the problems facing the prevention, assessment, rehabilitation and development of brownfields.The papers published in the book are grouped into the following sections: Development issues; Environmental assessment; Risk assessment and management; Cleanup methodologies; Case studies; Community and public involvement; Lessons from the field; Modelling and assessment; Monitoring of contaminated sites

Rehabilitation of brownfields, particularly those which are contaminated can be an expensive undertaking and requires not only technical solutions but the involvement of financial, regulatory and community stakeholders. Fundamental to this process is the analysis of the risks involved and the development of the appropriate strategies. Those need to be weighted against the economic and social benefits of brownfield development, to assess the general viability of the redevelopment. In most cases the demand for development land drives the process forward, while sometimes the rehabilitation is grounded on the wish to restore the landscape and the ecology of a region.This volume contains the proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Prevention, Assessment, Rehabilitation and Development of Brownfield Sites that was held in Cephalonia (Greece) in May 2008. Brownfield development is in most cases essential to attract new business to the locality and for the creation of healthy communities. Therefore, there is a great need for deeper research and study of all aspects of the problem - technical, institutional, financial, social - and an exchange of ideas, know-how and experience among experts and scientists. The proceedings have been arranged into the following sections: Rehabilitation of Brownfields; Development Issues; Remediation Studies and Technologies; Case Studies; Risk Assessment and Management; Community and Public Involvement

The following report provides a summary of key pieces of environmental legislation and illustrates the learning curve the U.S. has undergone in regulating environmental conduct over the last 30 years. This is not an exhaustive analysis of environmental law but a concise summary that provides a baseline for understanding why the brownfield process has become a desired mechanism for redeveloping environmentally impaired properties in the U.S., and how other environmental regulatory programs are beginning to incorporate the fundamentals used in brownfield redevelopment projects.

The brownfields tax incentive expired on December 31, 2005. Enacted in 1997, the provision allowed a taxpayer to fully deduct the costs of environmental cleanup in the year the costs were incurred, rather than spreading the costs over a period of years. The provision was adopted to stimulate the cleanup and developers of less seriously contaminated sites by providing a benefit to taxpaying developers of brownfield properties. This report contains information on the background of brownfields, survey findings from brownfield tax incentive applications, and related figures.

Brownfields (contaminated or degraded territories) significantly pollutes environment, form derelict landscapes and affects people's security and health. Formation of these sites depends on many factors such as bad industrial practise and economy, inadequate legislation, wastewater and waste management etc. Inventory and evaluation of these sites in Latvia is carried out according to Regulations issued by the Latvia Cabinet of Ministers. The sites are characterised with parameters which differs from accepted in the other European countries. For example, primary classification indicator in Latvia is a degree of ground and soil pollution in these fields and as a secondary factor – presence of destroyed and abandoned buildings. The paper presents the results of investigation the situation on brownfields in Latvia, especially in Rezekne city, analyses the reasons of their formation and develops recommendations for intensification revitalization process of brownfields.

Poster Division 1: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: 1st Place (The Ohio State University Edward F. Hayes Graduate Research Forum) ; Issues of environmental injustice in siting of environmental hazards are well known. Based on past research, the expectation is that lower socioeconomic status populations are systematically subject to higher levels of environmental risk in their communities. In this paper, I investigate whether similar patterns appear prevalent in environmental improvement as well. First, I assess the characteristics of the communities in which brownfield sites are currently located. Then, I compare the likelihood and prioritization of cleaning up brownfield sites based on the composition of their neighborhoods. I find that while sites in communities with larger minority populations are likely to move at a slower pace through the initial assessment phases of the cleanup process, they are no less likely to ultimately be cleaned up. I suggest that economic and political considerations are better explanations of this result than overt discrimination. ; A one-year embargo was granted for this item.

Planning and design of brownfield landscapes are not straight forward due to invisible, potential contamination. The dilemma occurs to designers in dealing with brownfield landscapes, because they are unknowingly able to deliver deceptive information regarding the site safety. If the designers and planners are given the information about factors affecting people's reaction to different characteristics of brownfield landscapes, this would help them to be better prepared for ethical issues. For this study, visual preference survey for neighborhoods along the rail yard in the City of Roanoke was conducted. A dimensional analysis found six brownfield landscape types. First of all, historical landmark and maintained landscape types received the highest ratings regardless of the participants characteristics and backgrounds. These types may be viewed less critically and are thus likely to mask potential harms. Second, scruffy vegetation and modest rundown building types that made up the second preferred group revealed more ambivalent feeling. People were highly flexible in switching between change or preservation options in their thinking, thus it would be easy to lead people to focus on certain aspects according to the designer's purposes. Lastly, the two industrial remnant types were the least preferred group. Participants tend to associate these types with toxic pollutants that are likely to adversely affect the health, thus, it would be important to reassure people regarding safety concerns. The expert interviews with brownfield program managers of many localities (Roanoke, VA; Portland, OR; Toledo, OH; Pheonix, AZ; Lewisville, TX; Arlington, TX; and New Bern, NC) were conducted to determine whether the current approaches are effective and develop recommendations. The interviews found that the effectiveness of program is greatly challenged by normative site assessment required by federal government. While the procedure provides necessary information about site safety, it also attaches a stigma to sites regardless of actual contamination level. Based on the findings, it is recommended to include assessment criteria that reveals reuse potentials of brownfields for balanced approach. The results provide useful information for program managers, planners and designers regarding important factors that should be considered for site prioritization and preparation and presentation of designs for brownfield reuse. ; Ph. D.